JACKSON, MI – The results of two contested Jackson-area school board races involving write-in candidates likely won’t be available until next week, according to Jackson County election officials.

One race involves Jackson School Board candidates Christopher Burdette and Mike Way, who filed to run as write-ins for the four years remaining on Dr. David Halsey’s term. Halsey resigned his seat in August.

The other is between William Balluff, Audra Blaschko and Peter James Jancek, who filed as write-ins for one of two six-year terms on the Northwest School Board. One of them will join incumbent Robert Sayles, who received 6,289 votes in Tuesday’s election.

Because the names of write-in candidates are actually written on the ballot by hand, they cannot be digitally counted, said Colleen Garety, Jackson County elections director. The county’s board of canvassers must count them by hand and verify that all are legitimate registered write-in candidates, Garety said.

That process began at about 1 p.m. Wednesday and will take several days to complete, due to the large number of write-in candidates for Jackson County school board seats. Besides these contested races, there were uncontested write-in candidates for school board seats in Concord and Grass Lake.

“This is a huge undertaking and we need to take the time to make sure it’s done right and the results are valid,” Garety said.